It is customary to provide a gasket formed from a resilient material, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), around the perimeter of a door to seal the juncture between a cabinet and the door when the door is hinged to the cabinet along one of the vertical sides of the door. A household refrigerator is an example of such a cabinet and door assembly. Typically, a gasket of the foregoing type has a complex configuration in cross-section, with an enclosed chamber containing a magnetic insert and one or more additional enclosed chambers that is or are yieldable under load to continuously seal the junction between the cabinet and the door, notwithstanding some variations in spacing therebetween around the perimeter of the door. A typical gasket of this type also has a generally U-shaped recess that is adapted to receive the outer edge of a panel of the door to permit the gasket to be assembled to the door.
The assembly of a door gasket to the door of a refrigerator involves frictional engagement of the gasket to the door. Because of the substantial vertical height of some doors, it is possible for a long, vertical leg of a door gasket to pull away from the edge of a door panel during assembly due to the gravitational forces acting on the gasket, thus slowing down the assembly process and/or resulting in an improperly assembled door and gasket assembly. The disengagement of the gasket from the door panel tends to be by a pivoting motion in a plane extending transversely through the gasket and the door. Examples of prior art disclosures of magnetic door gaskets include U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,509 (Merla), U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,873 (Thomas), U.S. Pat. No. 3,126,590 (Monti), and U.S. Pat. No. 2,928,145 (Foley), Canadian Patent 707,945 (issued Apr. 20, 1965) and British Patent Specification 1,416,151 (published 3 December 1975), the disclosure of each of which is incorporated by reference herein.